If you have recently visited your eye doctor in Colorado Springs, you may have heard about a condition called “macular degeneration.” It’s one of the most common eye problems that people have to deal with, especially as they get older, but what is macular degeneration?
Understanding Macular Degeneration
Macular degeneration is “the leading cause of severe, permanent vision loss in people over age 60,” which means that it’s one of the main conditions our optometrists at our Colorado Springs office look for during an eye exam. The condition makes your central vision blurry or even non-existent so that only the edges of your vision are clear. Sometimes macular degeneration is only present in one eye, and sometimes it’s in both eyes. Without intervention, it will continue to worsen until even simple tasks like reading and driving are impossible or unsafe.
Types of Degeneration
There are two main types of macular degeneration: dry and wet. The wet form is much rarer and can cause permanent vision loss, but the dry form can lead to the wet form if no changes are made to your habits. The dry form can sneak up on you without you even realizing it since it’s painless and the changes that it causes are very gradual. And if the dry form is in only one eye, your good eye can compensate, hiding the truth for longer.
Suppose you’re wondering whether or not you might have macular degeneration. In that case, we encourage you to make an appointment at our Colorado optometry office and come in for a professional eye exam. While we don’t have a cure for macular degeneration yet, there are still many things you can do to protect your eyes and stop it from getting worse, like protecting your eyes from UV light with glasses from our Colorado Springs clinic. So give us a call or come on down and find out why we’re so committed to helping veterans like you!